Several theories have tried to explain the most colossal
eruptions in the universe. Here are the leading ideas:
White dwarf flares: Our Sun routinely ejects high
speed material and radiation in solar
flares. Very old compact stars called white
dwarfs are known to flare as well, but the amount of energy is not enough
to explain distant GRBs.
Starquakes: Neutron stars
are packed so tightly that their surfaces may sometimes crack under the
pressure. These seismic
events have been detected, but it is unlikely one of these could release
enough energy to be a GRB.
Merging neutron stars: Neutron stars sometimes come
in pairs orbiting around each other. At some point the two will spiral
into each other. The smash-up
may explain
short duration GRBs that last less than 2
seconds, but probably cannot explain the more common long duration GRBs.
Charged black holes: Black holes can be electrically
charged, and their sudden discharge could power a GRB. But it's not clear
how a black hole could gather enough charge to begin with.
Strange stars: The high density in neutron stars
could transform normal matter into an exotic form of matter made of strange
quarks. Such a conversion into a strange
star could release loads of energy, but whether this could result in a GRB
is highly speculative.
Cannonballs: Instead of a continuous jet, material could
shoot from the central engine in chunks, or cannonballs. Although still
debated, many scientists believe this model is ruled out
by the data.
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